


First Day Blues

by BekkaChaos



Series: Gallavich Drabbles [165]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gallavich, Gen, Karen and Mandy and Mickey, M/M, Misfit!Mickey, Popular!Ian, Team Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-03-31 23:50:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3997870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BekkaChaos/pseuds/BekkaChaos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i><b>Gallavich High School AU:</b> Ian and Mickey are seniors at high school, Ian is a sports star and Mickey is a misfit who likes to hang out under the bleachers and smoke with Mandy and Karen. Not really a perfect match but maybe things that aren't perfect are the ones that work best.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Day Blues

If you think high school was hard enough, try being an impoverished, unmotivated teenager of average intelligence trying to navigate your way through it on the mean streets of South Side Chicago. Then try adding a shit-show family, teachers who think you aren’t worth shit, and for Mickey Milkovich, the complete and utter inconvenience of being gay.

It’s not like he’s officially ‘ _out_ ’, but concealing it in a neighbourhood like his was just as bad. Fag-bashing was basically a sport.

So he kept it a secret, he didn’t act on it any more than fantasising about guys at night when he jacked himself off.

It took a lot of effort just to get through school, it’s not like his dad gave a shit if he graduated and maybe that was why he kept going. Either way, school was a bore, but in some ways it was a release.

It was the first day of his senior year and he was already out and walking towards the school. He could hear his sister Mandy calling to him as she ran to catch up but he was in too bad a mood to wait for her.

“Hey! Hey I’m _talking to you asshole_!” she yelled before she was grabbing his arm as she caught him. “What fucking gives, you were supposed to wait for me?”

“I’m not gonna stand around and get fucking screamed at while I wait for you to haul your ass into some skinny fucking jeans,” he said.

He had his hands shoved into his pockets and his brow set in a hard line as he stared out at the path ahead.

“Dad’s on your back huh?” she asked.

“It’s a day that ends with a ‘ _y_ ’ so what do you think?”

“You should really tell him to go fuck himself,” she said.

“Did, he broke my fucking nose, remember?” he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

“So quit school and get a job so you can move out of his house,” she said. “Then I can come live with you and―”

“What? Live happily ever after?” he asked.

“Sure, just as soon as we each find ourselves a Prince Charming.”

Mickey hadn’t intended to tell Mandy about his preferences, he wasn’t even entirely sure he ever _told_ her he was gay. She just picked up on things and then one day found a picture Mickey had torn out of a magazine and stashed in his room. He may never have actually told her, but he never denied it either.

“Seriously? It’s the first day of fucking school, I already feel like unloading my guts on the pavement, don’t make it worse,” he said.

“Alright, okay, _sorry_ ,” she said. “I’ll come live with you and that’ll be the end of it.”

“Better,” he muttered.

Mandy was one of only two people who knew Mickey was into guys. The other person was the third miscreant addition to their misfit army.

“Turn down here, we’ve got to stop at Karen’s,” she said.

“What? Excuse me? No, why can’t she fucking meet us, her place is out of the way,” Mickey complained as Mandy looped her arm through his and dragged him down the road.

“You really care about being on time for class?” she asked. “Come on, it’s like five extra minutes.

Karen was probably Mandy’s closest friend, and that was saying a lot considering up until her sophomore year she never really had _any_ female friends. The two of them were so fucking similar though, made it easier for them to get along.

They were both juniors, and if Mickey gave half a shit about the status quo he would probably spend his lunchtimes alone rather than hanging out with either of them. It wouldn’t matter what he did though, he was at the bottom of the food chain and it was more fun smoking under the bleachers with the two of them than it was brooding alone the entire time.

You would never catch him admitting that he actually considered them his friends.

Mandy didn’t have to tell Karen about Mickey, she figured it out herself. If it wasn’t the fact that Mickey spent half his time staring out at the meatheads playing football on the field at lunch, it was the fact that they spent twenty minutes dry humping on the dancefloor at a party the year before and his dick barely even moved.

She asked Mandy first, and when she neither confirmed nor denied it, she tested the theory and just casually threw it out there. If he was honest, Mickey liked that they knew about him. Being with the two of them was the only time he could be closer to who he wanted to be.

“I’ll be back after school mom!” Karen called as she ran down the porch steps, grinning as she jogged towards them.

Mandy opened her arms with a grin and the two of them shared a hug while Mickey just rolled his eyes.

“You saw one another like two days ago, is this really fucking necessary?” he said and Karen let go of Mandy to wrap her arms around Mickey and kiss his cheek loudly.

He kept his hands in his pockets and pulled an unimpressed face as she did.

“You’re _extra_ grumpy this morning, your dad?” she said, letting go so they could turn back in the right direction.

He groaned exorbitantly and started walking ahead. Mandy and Karen just smiled at one another, linking arms as they walked.

“Are we going to have to torment the shit out of him all the way to school?” she asked and Mandy laughed.

“Probably, he is grumpier than usual, and that’s _saying_ something.”

“I can still hear you two bitches!”

“You call us bitches when you’re the one bitching!” Karen called. “Jesus, he’s really in a bad mood today.”

“It’s actually one of his better ‘first day of school’ moods, we should probably be grateful.”

“Speaking of grateful, I’ve got some good stuff we can light up during lunch hour. So long as we share a joint we should be okay to go to the last few classes,” Karen said. “It’s not like we learn anything anyway.”

“Only because the teachers think we’re fucking morons.”

“You two better not get your asses buzzed without me!” Mickey called.

“This is why he spends time with us, he just wants to get high,” Karen said with a smile.

They made it to school barely before the bell, and after that they were still late to class like always.

It might have been his senior year but it felt like every other. He was handed his schedule, some of the teachers scoffed when they saw him in their classes, no one expected anything of him.

By lunch he was already over the whole damn year and he decided to skip the next class with Karen and Mandy.

“Who says I even need a fucking diploma anyway?” he said, taking the blunt from Karen and staring out from his spot under the bleachers. “I can already tell you what I’m gonna end up doing, manual fucking labour.”

“Is that you talking or Professor Dick-wit from your bio class talking?” Karen asked, lying on the ground and propping herself up on her elbows.

“He can _suck_ my dick, fucking asshole,” Mickey said.

“Gross, no, you can do better than him,” Mandy said and Karen just laughed.

“Jesus, not fucking literally,” he said, shaking his head as the track team headed out to practice.

There was a new addition this year, Mickey thought he was exclusive to the school’s slightly better than average basketball team, but he looked just as good in his track-suit as he did in his shorts and singlet.

Ian Gallagher: varsity basketball star, half decent GPA, taut and tight body that Mickey had been admiring since he was a sophomore, and way too fucking preppy to even know that Mickey was alive.

Now he was probably going to dominate the track team records too.

Mickey sighed, watching him as he stretched and smiled at all the rest of his preppy buddies before they started their warm up.

“Is he staring at the redhead again?” Mandy asked and Mickey held up his middle finger before handing her the joint.

“What redhead?” Karen asked, sitting up and searching through all the students out in the field.

“There’s no fucking redhead,” Mickey said, his cheeks flushing a little.

“Don’t listen to him,” Mandy grinned. “He thinks I don’t notice him looking at the guy but he’s about as subtle as those stupid jocks are in the cafeteria at lunch.”

“You talking about the tall one on the track?” Karen asked. “He’s hot.”

“I was not staring at him.”

“Why the hell not?” Mandy asked.

“Jesus _fucking_ Christ, he was in my line of sight, I was not staring at the guy,” Mickey said.

“He looks pretty fit, who knows, maybe he’s a wide receiver,” Karen said, winking at Mickey who was folding his arms over his chest.

“That’s football you idiot, he’s on the basketball team,” Mickey said and Mandy walked up to Karen with a grin.

“So maybe a _power forward_ then,” she said, grabbing Karen’s hips and thrusting into her from behind.

They both started laughing like crazy and Mickey just shook his head. “Why the fuck do I hang out with the two of you?”

“Because we don’t care that you’re totally smitten with the bangable basketballer,” Mandy said.

“I’m not―”

“He’s running track but you somehow know that he plays ball?” Mandy said with an eyebrow raised. “I can totally suss him out for you if you want.”

“Can we not do this? Please?” Mickey said and they thought he didn’t notice them share a look, but he did.

“Whatever, I should probably go to class, if I let my GPA slip any lower I’m going to be here even longer,” Mandy said. “First day is sort of important, right?”

She took one last hit off the joint and handed it over to Karen before picking up her bag and offering them a wave as she weaved her way out.

Karen sighed and walked over to sit beside Mickey who was looking out at the track again, his face dropped somehow from before.

“I wasn’t lying when I said he was hot,” she said and Mickey just gave her a snort in response. “You know you can just sit here and look at him, no one says you have to actually do anything.”

“Why would I? You think I have a death wish?” he said.

“All I’m saying is that looking is great, looking is awesome. Put him in your fucking spank bank,” she said and his lips twitched a little.

“My spank bank?” he cocked an eyebrow at her and she laughed.

“Get him out of your system without having to get him _in_ ,” she said as she bit down on her lip. “Mandy doesn’t get it because when she wants someone she just goes for it. She doesn’t get that sometimes going for it just isn’t an option.”

“Are we seriously having this conversation?” Mickey asked. “Can’t we just stick to getting high?”

“I got some harder stuff if you want it?” she said, her smile getting wider and he laughed out loud, looking over at her with a shake of his head.

“Don’t fucking say it,” he said.

“Okay, I won’t. You gonna go to your next class?”

“Probably, it’s the best one I got,” he said.

“Oh and that is?” she asked, highly doubting that anything at this school could be worth either of their time.

“Picked up an extra gym elective, basically just weight and fitness training,” he said.

“You realise that sounds worse than the chemistry class that I am _not_ attending right now?”

“It’s a whole class of pounding the crap out of a punching bag, and all the teacher does is weekly assessment which is seeing how we’ve fucking improved over the year. Biggest load of shit here,” he said and she rolled her eyes.

“Well, have fun getting sweaty and disgusting for all the wrong reasons,” she said with a smile, closing her eyes and letting out a heartfelt sigh. “Wake me when you’re leaving.”

 

By the time he headed off to his ‘class’ he was ready to get his frustrations out. School rarely left him in a hospitable mood and the first day back was never one of the odd occasions where he was happy to be there.

The minute he stepped into the crummy converted weights gym, formerly a sweaty storage area, he strapped on the fingerless gloves and squared up to the boxing bag. If only he could be graded on the slam of his fists instead of the way his brain completes complex equations.

He was the first one in class, earning him a curious eyebrow lift from the teacher who was sitting in the corner flicking through a Reader’s Digest. Even the teachers who had never had the _pleasure_ of teaching him knew him by mere reputation. Most of them had experienced at least one of his brothers in the years before him and that meant they expected the worst from him.

There was no use trying to change their minds, so usually he met their expectations.

He started laying it in with his punches, his knuckles slamming into the hard leather as he tried to relieve some of his frustrations.

The door to the gym opened and a group of guys walked in, laughing and being the obnoxious assholes that Mickey knew them to be. He let out a grunt in annoyance and threw a hard right rook into the bag.

It didn’t go unnoticed to him that Gallagher was a part of that group, his eyes drifting slightly as the redhead walked in with his usual arrogance as he stripped out of his jacket leaving him in only his thin white tee and sweats.

After a good few minutes of goofing around they settled in at different stations and turned up the music to a few decibels above irritating for Mickey. He couldn’t help but let his eyes slip a little as Gallagher worked his core on one of the pieces of equipment. He seemed to work through his reps easily and Mickey shook his head because it was no wonder the guy looked at good as he did.

Ian looked over at Mickey as he took a sip from his water bottle, narrowing his eyes a little and Mickey pretended he hadn’t noticed.

_Probably wondering how a Milkovich even made it to senior year_ , Mickey thought, gritting his teeth and throwing an even harder fist into the bag.

Gallagher kept shooting looks his way, and it was beginning to get irksome. He would throw his gaze over his shoulder or look into the mirror as he lifted his weights and after Mickey had taken a few minutes to cool off he made it obvious that he’d noticed.

“You want something?” he asked and Ian gave him a smile that Mickey was ashamed to say was flawless.

“Just checking out your technique, you throw a pretty heavy punch,” he said and Mickey scoffed.

“What’s the point if you ain’t throwing everything behind it?” he asked.

“You’ve got a pretty good right hook, but your stance is a bit off,” he said, still smiling only now he was leaning against the bag with a hand on his hip.

Mickey’s eyebrows shot up, “excuse you?”

“You’re body’s too front on, you’ve got to get on the side a little more,” he said.

“That right?” he said and Ian’s smile got a little wider.

“And stay on your toes, gives you better movement if you do.”

“I know how to throw a fucking punch,” Mickey said.

Gallagher shrugged. “I’m just saying, you get more out of it if you use the right positions.”

“Look preppy, I know everyone thinks my brain is fucking fried, which let’s face it, it probably is, but if there’s one thing I don’t need your help with it’s using my fucking fists, okay?” he snapped.

Ian let out a sigh and nodded a little, “Just trying to help.”

“Yeah? Don’t,” Mickey said and the two locked eyes for a moment before Mickey was looking down at his hands and readjusting his gloves.

“And I’m not that preppy,” he added, turning to walk back to another activity.

Mickey sighed, talking to people had never been his strong suit. He went back to boxing, trying not to let Gallagher see that his body had shifted and he was a little lighter on his feet, but the guy wasn’t looking anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Trying to keep this ongoing as a mini-series, we'll see how it goes!


End file.
